


Heart to Heart

by roxyeisen



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-09
Updated: 2018-03-09
Packaged: 2019-03-29 04:14:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13919178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roxyeisen/pseuds/roxyeisen
Summary: 2018 Mulder and Scully call a conference meeting with Chris Carter.





	Heart to Heart

The conference room is quiet, except for the occasional shifting of Mulder’s feet and the intermittent whoosh of the heat kicking on. Scully watches the door intently, waiting. The pair is dressed in work attire, as if they just came from the office. Seated in plush black office chairs, hands folded on a polished wood table, they glance at one another. Mulder shrugs.

Finally, the door opens. In lumbers a man with white hair and a notebook and pen. He’s talking to himself. He quickly scrawls something on the paper.

“Thanks for meeting with us,” Scully says as she casts another doubtful look in Mulder’s direction. He sighs.

“Of course, of course,” the man mumbles, as if he has too many things on his mind. He eventually stops writing and looks up at them, a genuine smile of affection on his face. “How are you both? How are the cases going? I’ve sent some good ones your way this time, right?”

Mulder twists his mouth and shifts in his chair. “Yeah, yeah, we’ve seen some interesting X-Files come across the desk this year.”

“YOUR desk, you mean,” Chris Carter jokes. 

“Since there’s only one, I like to think of it as OUR desk.” Mulder shakes his head at Scully.

“Sure.” Chris stops chuckling. 

“I don’t know, maybe the fact that you want it to be my desk is some sort of … symbol? Are you hoping that your believer side will win out here?”

Chris Carter taps his finger on his chin. “Hmm. I like that. Maybe so. Maybe so.”

“Well, not to be overly obvious, but why don’t you just write that?”

Chris is confused. “What’s this about? I thought we were meeting so you could tell me how much you’ve liked the stories this season.”

Scully nods. “We aren’t saying we don’t. But you keep saying our story stops here. This is the end. Why are we messing around with cases that have nothing to do with us and going on sushi dates and buying smart homes when our underage son is out there somewhere alone? Why aren’t we talking when there is SO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT? Decisions to make. Promises. I can’t be left hanging for another decade. Let alone forever. I need resolution.” Scully is starting to get emotional. She stops talking and gets up. Walks to the other side of the room, facing away. Her arms are around her middle. Does she whisper her son’s name? 

Mulder looks sadly her way before he speaks to Chris. “Both of us have always respected you. I know you’re a perfectionist who wants to get every detail right. Neither of us would be here if it weren’t for your vision. But no one’s perfect. I wonder if maybe you are trying to hold too much control, and that’s why our emotional needs aren't getting addressed.”

The room goes quiet. Chris nods, his eyes on the table. 

Mulder seems to feel bad about making him uncomfortable. “I want to be understanding with you, as our creator, but I’m having a hard time accepting why your plot lines are more important than us. Your characters. Would anyone care at all about your stories without us?”

Chris looks surprised. “No one. Of course. You’re the heart. Do you feel like I haven’t treated you as well as I should? Given you enough closure?”

Scully huffs from across the room. She whirls around. “You haven’t given us anything! We had to take every last bit of what we have accomplished in our characters and our relationship behind your back! We had to whisper to our actors so many times I lost count.” She points out the wall of glass where hundreds, if not thousands of people stand in the hallway, watching silently. “They see it. They’ve written about it in fanfic, they’ve made the youtube videos. They’ve tried to offer what you didn’t, or couldn’t. But it’s not the same. It’s not the same as it being canon.”

“Some of them understood and tried to tell you.” Mulder agrees. “And even our actors wrote solid episodes. Added the necessary heart. They share the same unexplainable chemistry Scully and I have. You had them as a resource, but you didn’t listen to them nearly as much as you should have.”

“I did. I took what they had to say into account. I let them take the lead.”

Mulder nodded. “You did. In little moments. But not on the whole.”

“But you’re just work partners. Friends. Best friends.” Chris shakes his head, disillusioned. “I thought I was standing up for what you wanted. That everyone else was wrong.”

At this Mulder gets up and lets a few other people into the room. Chris gasps as he realizes it is Mulder and Scully from 1993. Mulder and Scully from 1997. Mulder and Scully from 1999. Mulder and Scully from 2001. Mulder and Scully from 2009. The pair from 2016.

“How did you all get here in one room?”

“We’re still around. People still love us. We live through them.” 1997 Scully explains.

“At first you were right. We were only interested in a partnership,” 1993 Mulder says. His Scully nods. “But I knew the first time I saw her that I was going to spend the rest of my life with her.” 

1999 Mulder leans forward over the table. “Couldn’t you see that? Was I not clear enough? I love her. I’ve always loved her, and though I admit I don’t talk about my feelings, and I’m partly to blame for the frustration, you heard me wrong. I never said she was only a work partner. Ever.”

All the Mulders agree.

“And I guess you could argue that I’m partly to blame, too,” 2016 Scully speaks up. “I do tend to run away from things that scare me. But as my creator, it was your job to make me face my fears. That’s the whole point of being a protagonist. I inspire others to do the right thing. The unexpected thing. Not run away like everyone else.”

2009 Mulder doesn’t look up. He leans against the wall with his hands in his pockets. “It’s true I had problems. Big problems. But it was your job to show me how to find a way around my hang-ups. Not excuse them.”

2016 Mulder nods his agreement.

“But you’re platonic work partners,” Chris says, though his voice has grown more feeble. “Where did I get off track?”

1997 Mulder shakes his head. “We were platonic work partners for about four years. At that point, neither of us were able to ignore what was happening.”

“Yes,” 1997 Scully says. “I realized it at the end of the case with Eddie Van Blundht. It hit me like a rock. I was falling in love with him.” She gasps a laugh. “Mulder, not Van Blundht.” Everyone chuckles, even 1993 Mulder and Scully who are a little weirded out by the whole conversation, and subconsciously move to stand by Chris Carter.

Present-day Mulder smiles affectionately at this earlier version of his Scully. “The next twenty years were decidedly not platonic. Nor are they today, as much as you keep trying to hide it like you’re ashamed of us. It confuses the audience, because they don’t find out till after the fact what has transpired between us. That’s not really fair. It made them lose trust in you. I’m all for not showing the details. Scully and I are both private people. But you have to be honest with your audience.”

“Wait a second, you are living in 2018 and you still don’t have your relationship figured out?” 2001 Mulder asks in disbelief. “I know I take a while to get to the point, but 17 years?”

“Where’s William?” 2001 Scully says in worry, clutching her baby close.

Present-day Scully stifles a sob. Her Mulder goes to her and protectively holds her.

“You forget,” Chris argues. “I wrote the episode this season where you got together. At the motel.”

Mulder nods. “You did.”

Scully turns. “Not to mention hinting at the same time that the only reason for that was to impregnate me and then kill me off in the finale.”

“I never said that.”

“St. Rachel Motel? Rachel who had two sons and then promptly died in childbirth? Do you think no one knows the Bible story?” Scully argues.

“And now it looks like William may die as well. From the preview.” The fanfic author can’t help but interject. “Did you think nobody would pause it and catch that still of stunned Mulder holding a crying Scully with blood all over his clothes?”

“What?” 2001 Scully gasps. Her Mulder puts his arm around her. In fact, it seems most of the Mulders have done the same with their Scullys.

“Please don’t kill our son,” Present-day Scully pleads. “Kill me instead.”

“No way,” Mulder shakes his head. “Don’t you dare kill her. I can’t live without her.”

Chris Carter leans his head into his hands as if he’s got a major headache. “Okay, okay. I know how THEY want it to end.” He gestures to the group in the hallway and the lone fanfic author standing sheepishly by the door. “How do you see it? Tell me how it ends.”

“Let love win,” Mulder says simply. “Let love be stronger than all this darkness you’ve pointed out to the world. You know in your heart love is supposed to win. So do we all. It’s in our nature to know it. Let love be stronger than their losses.” He points to the 1993 pair. “And their fears.” He gestures to the 1997s. “And the 2001s’ peril, and the 2009s’ inability to get along as a couple. Let the story bow to love at the end. Let it win, and let it win big.” 

The lone fanfic author, though she looks terrified, steps forward. “That’s what we ask. If you don’t let love win, none of us will be able to let this go. We love this story. We love all of these versions of these characters. We love William because he is the culmination and the proof of their commitment to each other. You can’t take any of these elements away, or we will not have any closure.”

“I see,” Chris Carter nods. “I see what you mean. I guess I always did. It’s hard being the writer.”

“It is,” fanfic author agrees. “It’s hardest to see from that position. But you can do it. You created Mulder and Scully. You have to love them even more than anyone else does. Let the end rise out of that love, and it will be perfect.”

“Thanks for this meeting.” Chris Carter nods to everyone in the room. “It’s been enlightening. I appreciate your interest.”

“And we appreciate you giving us life,” Mulder says, his arm still tightly around his Scully. William has joined them, and Scully is holding a new baby. “Thank you for our family. The truth is astonishingly simple.”

“Love wins.”


End file.
